


Only When I Dream

by red_starshine



Category: Constantine (TV), Hellblazer, Hellblazer & Related Fandoms
Genre: Character Death In Dream, Crossover, Dreams and Nightmares, M/M, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-25
Updated: 2015-04-25
Packaged: 2018-03-25 18:12:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3820036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/red_starshine/pseuds/red_starshine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chas has a nightmare during the long drive back to Atlanta.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Only When I Dream

**Author's Note:**

> For anon’s prompt of ‘After hours of driving Chas takes a nap on the backseat of the cab while Zed drives in his place and he gets a nightmare so John goes to cuddle with him to try to make him feel better.’
> 
> Thank you for the great prompt, anon! :D

Ten long hours stuffed into Chas’s cab. Four states. Three traffic slowdowns. One tire blowout in Maryland that had to be changed in the pouring rain on the shoulder of the highway

All for a haunting that’d turned out to be a kid with a projector and a few mirrors. Chas had had to hold John back from punching the kid in the face as soon as they’d found him.

Nobody inside Chas’s cab was in a good mood heading back to Georgia at three in the morning.

“Chas, do you want me to take over driving?,” said Zed, leaning between Chas and John from the backseat.

“I’m fine. Driven longer trips than this,” said Chas tersely.

“I’m agreeing with Zed on this one, mate. You’re about to fall asleep at the wheel,” said John. “And some of us in this cab who don’t have fancy resurrection powers happen to like being alive.”

Chas did his best to stifle a yawn. “I’m okay. We’re only three-and-a-half hours from Atlanta, I can make it.”

Zed was looking over her shoulder out the rear window at the intersection they’d gone through. “You just ran a red light,” she said, not unkindly.

John placed a hand on Chas’s shoulder. “Chas, mate, I think you’re done for the night.”

Chas hunched over the wheel, flicked the cab’s blinker on and pulled off onto the shoulder of the road, putting the cab in park. “Zed, you wanna switch spots?”

“Sure,” said Zed, reaching down to unbuckle her seatbelt.

“I could drive the cab,” said John, slightly affronted.

Chas gave him a tired look as he opened his door. “John, when you wanted your own car, there’s a reason I got you the cheapest possible truck I could find.”

“Fine. Zed can do it,” conceded John, sinking back into his seat. “If you don’t trust me behind the wheel of your precious cab.”

“John, it’s not a big deal,” said Zed, sliding into the driver’s seat. She reached under the seat and moved it up to a point where her feet could actually touch the pedals.

It was a little funny watching Chas try to fold himself into the cab’s small backseat.

“And take a nap or something while you’re back there,” said John, twisting around in his seat to look back at Chas. He frowned. “Christ. You look like you haven’t slept for a week.”

“I’ve driven over a thousand miles in the past twenty-four hours,” said Chas, taking off his hat. “Give me a break.”

Chas shut his eyes and was asleep before Zed could put the cab into gear and pull out back onto the road.

***

Chas was back at the club the night of the fire.

The entire stage was burning now, cutting off the two side exits, and a sea of people were trying to force themselves through the narrow doorway leading outside. People were crawling over each other to reach the door as oily black smoke flooded into the nightclub. There were too many bodies, coughing and gagging, screaming and crying. Plaster dust and red-hot embers rained down from the ceiling.

Chas was on the ground, in his last moments of consciousness before the smoke forced all the air out of his lungs. He looked up at the stage as the light bar came crashing down from the ceiling.

Except the empty stage now had a man, mostly hidden by the smoke, calmly standing in the center.

The man pushed himself off the edge of the stage to the nightclub’s floor, something long fanning behind him, and approached Chas. The flames arced across the ceiling above the man, blackening and consuming it. Soon the roof of the nightclub would collapse, trapping those still living and entombing the already dead.

Chas looked up at the man in disbelief as he calmly walked towards him through the fire and smoke, not gagging and untouched by any ash or flames. The smoke and ash in the air was too thick for Chas to breathe; he was choking on it. Chas grabbed at the man’s white shirt with one hand as he kneeled down in front of Chas.

Chas caught a flash of blond hair and a familiar tan trench-coat through the smoke.

“’ello there, Chas, ” said the man in a heavy Scouse accent. “Looks like you’re in a bit of trouble.”

“John?” Although he had the same blond hair and was wearing a trench-coat, the man in front of him didn’t look like the John he knew. This John looked at least thirty years older, and the eyes staring at him were ice-blue, not John’s familiar brown, and a raised red scar ran down across his left eye. “No. You’re not John. Who are you?”

"I’m the Laughing Magician." The older man gave a smirk. “But you're somewhat right. I’m not exactly the John Constantine you know, just like the Chas Chandler I know isn’t a ruddy American. But some things are almost always the same. Me being a right bastard, your good heart.”

“Look, whoever you are, you have to get out of here,” wheezed Chas. “Building’s gonna collapse...”

“Oh, mate,” said the older John with a twinge of sadness, idly bushing a dark lock of hair from Chas’s pale forehead. Chas’s eyes were a watery, irritated red from the smoke, not quite focused on the other John's face but struggling to keep looking at him. “Don’t worry about me. Worry about yourself. You’re the one who’s going to die here.”

John pulled Chas closer to him, touching his forehead to Chas’s. He placed his hand over Chas’s chest,.

Closing his eyes, John brushed his lips across dry, cracked skin.

The roof creaked and groaned above Chas’s head, sending down a fresh flurry of burning embers.

***

Chas woke up suddenly, not knowing where he was in the darkness until he felt the gentle rumble of the cab’s engine beneath him. On the road back to Atlanta, with Zed and John.

A warm body was pressed next to him, a gentle pressure over his chest and a hand lightly carding through his hair, murmuring something reassuring. The smell of old cigarettes and alcohol filled his nose.

Chas tilted his head back slightly. “John?”

John gave him a small, uneasy grin. “Hey, mate. You were having one rotten nightmare.” John leaned down and spoke into his ear quietly, “The club fire again?”

Chas nodded. “Yeah.”

“Jesus.”

“But you were there, this time,” said Chas, letting his head rest against John. “Or at least, you as an old man.”

“In the fire?” said John. “Huh. Was I an arsehole? I’d imagine if I get to be an old man, I’d be one hell of a grumpy arsehole.”

“He wasn’t really a jerk, he was just a little weird,” said Chas, yawning. He shut his eyes. “Called himself the ‘Laughing Magician’.”

John went very still next to Chas. “Oh Christ,” he muttered.

“What’s the matter?” murmured Chas, halfway back into sleep.

John was quiet for a long moment. “I’ll explain once we get back to the mill house,” he said finally. “It’s a bit much for three in the morning. Go back to sleep.” He stroked Chas’s hair fondly. “I’ll make sure nothing disturbs you this time.”

Chas let himself fall back into asleep, lulled by the sound of the cab’s wheels on the asphalt and John beside him, murmuring something that almost sounded like a spell.

“Pleasant dreams, Chas.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you're wondering what the hell's with the older version of John Chas sees while he's asleep, he's supposed to be the John from the later issues of 'Hellblazer'. In the comics, the 'Laughing Magician' is a mage from Constantine's bloodline who exists to be a big thorn in the side of the gods and demons - John's the current one, but many (not all) of his ancestors were also incarnations of the Laughing Magician. (Lady Johanna Constantine from 'The Sandman' is one.) Hellblazer John's role in this fic grew out of an admittedly-cracky headcanon I had that Hellblazer John now keeps an eye on all of his alternate selves (TV John, movie John, Nu52 John, etc.) after his own comic was cancelled.
> 
> I almost included Jackie Constantine (the teen girl version of John from 'The Books of Magick: Life During Wartime' comics who's canonically in a relationship with her Chas) and the Keanu Reeves version of John from the movie in Chas's nightmare as well, but that would've been far, far too many Constantines...


End file.
